What Are the Causes of Diastolic Dysfunction?

The primary causes of diastolic dysfunction include chronic high blood presssure, aortic stenosis, coronary artery disease, restrictive cardiomyopathy and aging.

In restrictive cardiomyopathy, abnormal cells, protein, or scar tissue causes infiltration of the heart muscle and it is made stiff. Amyloidosis is the most common cause of restrictive cardiomyopathy in which a disease in which protein-like substance is deposited within the body’s tissues. Sarcoidosis and hemochromatosis are other causes for restrictive cardiomyopathy. The effect of aging is yet to be understood clearly if it alone causes stiffening of the ventricles.

What are the Symptoms of Diastolic Dysfunction?

Diastolic dysfunction is dangerous as it produces no symptoms until it progresses to the point of causing diastolic heart failure. Diastolic dysfunction refers to the situation where the heart failure occurs due to the stiffness of the left ventricle. This further leads to development of pulmonary congestion. This pulmonary congestion can be well-tolerated by many and often occurs at a later stage. The conditions include atrial fibrillation, periods of high blood pressure (especially systolic blood pressure elevations), and other kinds of rapid heart rhythms during episodes of cardiac ischemia. As these conditions occur suddenly without a warning, the problem of diastolic heart failure is sometimes called “flash pulmonary edema” which is sudden, severe, and potentially life-threatening pulmonary congestion and results in very severe breathlessness. Some patients with diastolic dysfunction have less severe episodes of pulmonary congestion.

How Common Is Diastolic Dysfunction?

Diastolic dysfunction commonly occurs and echocardiographic studies indicated that diastolic dysfunction is present in 15% of patients less than 50 years old. 50% of patients older than age 70 have diastolic dysfunction. Also, it is found that it mainly occurs in women as up to 75% of patients presenting with diastolic heart failure are women.

When Does Diastolic Dysfunction Become Diastolic Heart Failure?

When a patient with diastolic dysfunction develops an episode of symptomatic pulmonary congestion, diastolic heart failure is said to have occurred

How are Diastolic Dysfunction and Diastolic Heart Failure Diagnosed?

Diastolic heart failure is diagnosed when an episode of symptomatic heart failure occurrs in a patient with a normal left ventricular ejection fraction. Up to 50% of patients having acute pulmonary congestion may have diastolic heart failure.

Diastolic dysfunction in patients who have never had an episode of heart failure is diagnosed by echocardiography, which assesses the characteristics of diastolic relaxation and of left ventricular “stiffness.” The echocardiogram also reveals the cause of diastolic dysfunction: The presence of the left ventricular muscle thickening which is associated with high blood presssure and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, of aortic stenosis, and of some types of restrictive cardiomyopathies can be shown by ECG. However, no other diagnostic findings can be found in many patients who have diastolic dysfunction on echocardiography. And it becomes difficult to pin-point the cause for diastolic dysfunction in such patients.

Tagged with: • • • •

Filed under: Heart Failure Causes

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!